


The Heart Counts Better Than The Mind

by cpt_winniethepooh



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awkward Romance, Blue Eyes, Dum-E - Freeform, Flirting, M/M, Misunderstandings, POV Tony Stark, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Team as Family, bucky is fond of dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:52:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23041282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cpt_winniethepooh/pseuds/cpt_winniethepooh
Summary: When Cap comes home with freshly back-from-the-dead best friend Bucky Barnes, Tony doesn't expect that to change his life as much as it does.AKA the story where whatever is budding between Tony and Bucky may be endangered by what Bucky and Steve already have; or they may lead to the best thing that ever happens to Tony. (Gosh, I wonder which one it'll be.)
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 15
Kudos: 308
Collections: Fanfics





	The Heart Counts Better Than The Mind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Menatiera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/gifts).



A lot of the words used to describe one Anthony E. Stark had always been less than complimentary; but he could find some that he really, really liked. Genius, futurist and philanthropist were always amongst his favorites. He prided himself on few things but doing his best to make the future of the world better, to improve what already existed and help the general public were the things he would never be ashamed of.

That was why he joined the Avengers and followed Rogers's lead, who clearly wanted the same, even though their approaches greatly differed. Despite Tony's mountain of issues about him and how Rogers was from a different era with different morals, they became tentative friends with time, and Cap became Steve, and Tony was sure that would be the end of it: Steve would never be the one he confided in the most, the one he laughed with the most, the one he would miss the most.

And then Steve disappeared for a year and when he came back, he didn't come alone but with one new flying Avenger-nominee and one ex-brainwashed, thought-to-be-dead best friend.

And Romanoff, because of course. 

Tony hadn't expected any of it, let alone that the dead best friend would be the hottest, kindest and funniest guy he'd ever known – and one of the smartest, too, and that was saying something.

Sure, it took a while, but Tony's mind was blown when Barnes's true side began to show.

When people came to his workshop, they usually admired the cars or the suits. Barnes, however, didn't even make it three steps in when he got sidetracked by DUM-E of all creatures.

"Who's he?" Barnes asked, and it took Tony three blinks to comprehend what he was seeing, i.e. his one-armed bot feeling up the traumatized guy's metal hand.

"DUM-E, yes, you, leave the war hero alone, no, yes I get he has an arm like yours but c'mon, be polite," he rambled, all the while Barnes was stroking the bot's rod. _Stroking_. Like a puppy.

"You call him Dummy?" Barnes asked, and DUM-E, the traitor, beeped at him excitedly.

"D U M - E, but the other fits as well, useless as he is, never does what he's told, molests guests–"

"He seems alright to me," Barnes said, and smiled up at the bot, and Tony faltered in his steps.

That smile. It was so small, so shy, barely even there under a thick layer of fuzz and hair falling into his eyes, but it lit up his whole face, had long-lost crow’s-feet appear at the corner of his eyes, and fuck, Tony shouldn't have been noticing these things from that far away. About Rogers's best friend. Who smiled at Tony's bot _like that_.

"Yes, okay, stop flirting and get in here if you want me to check your arm," Tony said, and DUM-E lifted his rod questioningly. "Not you, the other one– this is what you're gonna do from now on? Misunderstand everything on purpose?"

"I never stop flirting," Barnes said cheekily, but did plop down on a stool so Tony could be in awe and also be frightened of his arm, so there.

And the arm, oh boy, the arm. That, by itself, would've been enough to not only catch but also hold Tony's attention for several weeks, if not months, no matter who it was attached to. The fact that it was attached to Rogers’s best friend only complicated matters.

"The plates don't close properly on the back since Sam 'accidentally' fired that thing at it," Barnes said in a voice that could dry out a rainforest and flexed his bicep to show where the gap was. "I can't reach it properly and Steve forbade me from taking it off."

"You can take it off? And more importantly, he _forbade_ you?"

"It hurts," Barnes shrugged elegantly, and looked up into Tony's eyes with stormy blue ones. "He doesn't like me being hurt."

For some unfathomable reason, Tony also disliked the idea of Barnes being hurt.

"Good call, good, yeah, good thing we have a mechanic on site, hm?" Tony sank to one knee to A, get out of eyesight and B, get a better look at the gap. It was small, but visible; a possible weak point in combat, and generally just an inconvenience as it was sure to catch on every fabric.

"I didn't mean to intrude on your hospitality," Barnes said in a small voice, and Tony's heart skipped a beat.

"No, I didn't mean it like– this arm is any engineer's dream to look at, really, and very disturbing in terms of origin, of course, but really it's, um, my pleasure. That you let me check it out."

"Of course," Barnes said warmly, and twisted to find Tony's gaze again, and _fuck_ , this was going to be a problem.

Movie nights became a regular thing after Rogers and Barnes's return, and at Cap's insistence, no less. He keenly wanted to show Barnes everything he had missed and used the gigantic TV in the common living room to do so, and naturally, the rest of the team also had to be invited.

"You'll love this," Steve said before literally every movie. But then he also always proceeded to spoil the endings. "Boromir will die, but it's a happy ending!"

Everybody groaned, and Clint even aimed a piece of popcorn at Steve, which Barnes caught.

"Why, Cap, why," Tony said. "Of all the things you managed to miss in this century, why does it have to be not telling how a thing ends?"

"It's a war movie and it involves characters losing their sense of self," Steve fired back heatedly. "Bucky has a right to know what he's in for."

"I asked him to," Barnes added. "Not that he ever could keep his trap shut. He finished the Hobbit before me and had to draw the death of the dragon, even though I've been rooting for him all along."

Steve turned a shade of red not uncommon to his regular uniform.

"Why the dragon?" Tony asked.

"Dragons are cool," Barnes said.

"You are just a history nerd and loved Beowulf," Steve proclaimed.

"And you would have fought a dragon if they were real," Barnes countered, which was a non-sequitur, but Steve grinned anyway.

"You could be my sidekick and bring my weapons."

"I'd protect the dragon from you."

Steve let out a loud, absolutely uncharacteristic laugh at that; threw his head back, lifted his hand to cover his stomach, and just _laughed_.

Tony's mouth opened as he stared at Steve, and he wasn't the only one. Clint's next attempt to throw popcorn into his own mouth missed and landed in Nat's hair, who didn't even notice it. Bruce took his glasses off and rubbed them, and Sam's eyebrows began moving toward his hairline.

Then Tony's eyes met Barnes's, and he had a small, but nonetheless honest smile on his face, if a bit smug as well. And no wonder: it wasn't every day they heard Cap laugh so freely and joyously. In fact, Tony could've sworn that this was the first time this had occurred, and truth be told, it made Cap look more like any other twentysomething in New York, just full of life and handsome as well.

Barnes was truly something else to have this effect on him.

Barnes kept coming to the workshop a lot, even when his arm didn't need maintenance. He always greeted the bots with familiar kindness and could never resist asking a million questions about what everything was and how they worked.

For a man that was decades behind the times, he proved to be remarkably fast on the upkeep, and could even suggest alterations to some of Tony's designs just by poking around a bit.

Only Rhodey and Bruce had been able to do that, and one was a rocket scientist at the Air Force and the other had seven PhDs.

Barnes was naturally curious and intuitive. His keen eye rivaled Steve's in sharpness, but where Cap didn't much care about the details of how something worked beyond the base necessity and how it could be used in a fight, Barnes's mind connected the dots and immediately found new ways to incorporate a new technology.

Tony even let him give some suggestions about his own suit, which, whoa. When did they get _that_ familiar? And while the laser eyes were just a joke, the slider wings in the event of a parachute failure could be very useful.

"You're quiet," Barnes – oh fuck it, _Bucky_ – said, and Tony's head jerked up. "You're never quiet unless something's really wrong."

And those sad, beautiful, tragic eyes, Jesus. Tony had forgotten how not to stare since Bucky started visiting regularly.

"Nothing's wrong," Tony hurried to say. "Everything's perfect!"

Bucky raised an eyebrow.

Tony suddenly understood what Steve must have been going through a lot, back when. If this was the _look_ he got on a daily basis then no wonder none of the Avengers, or anybody from the new world, had an impact on him.

"You went through hell, and yet you're sitting here and even let me touch your arm," Tony said. "I would've gone mad in your place and yet you're okay. More than okay, you're fine. It's... a wonder, and I don't say that often."

Bucky's gaze softened immediately, and two pink spots appeared on his cheeks.

 _Fuck_.

"Thanks," he said, and ducked his head. "It's easier when you have support. Steve, you, the Avengers..."

Tony tried to ignore how his heart leapt at that. "You're easy to support," he said, and then wanted to bash his head onto his shiny chrome table. Really, Stark? Was that the best you could've come up with?

But the blush only spread on Bucky's face, and he averted his gaze.

Whatever started between them, it only grew in the following days. Bucky spent all his free time at the workshop when he wasn't with Steve, and he kept bringing food too, which, fine, yeah, the road to Tony's heart was definitely paved with home-made cookies, he wasn't going to lie. And Bucky's were absolutely magnificent, the best of the best, and Tony wanted to savor them but he couldn't, he kept putting them into his mouth like his life depended on it, and Bucky kept staring at him with those wonderful eyes of his.

They still laughed and talked and brainstormed like before, but the _quality_ of their time together shifted. More lingering looks, soft sighs, and even a gentle touch or two, and Tony kept imagining at night what it would have been like to take Bucky's hand fully into his, or to caress his jaw and kiss him tenderly.

What the stubble would feel like on his skin; how Bucky would react to his calloused fingers.

But would it be fair? So soon after everything that had happened to Bucky?

Bucky, apparently a mind-reader, answered that question the same week it came up in Tony's mind.

"If you like my cooking so much," he said, attempting to be casual but landing about two miles south, as Tony was midway through the latest batch of peanut-caramel cookies, "maybe I could make something more substantial for you?"

Maybe before it would've come off perfectly seductive before the everything that happened to him, but now Bucky sounded apprehensive, even a tad nervous, and Tony's heart leapt.

"You mean dinner?" he asked back hopefully.

"Mhm," Bucky nodded, and his smile lit up the whole room. "Tomorrow?"

"Okay, yeah, sure, sounds lovely," Tony said.

"My place, seven," Bucky breathed. "Don't overdress."

In order to cheat a bit and make time fly faster, Tony stayed at the workshop until well after midnight.

He hadn't had a proper date since their attempt at a relationship with Pepper, and while they remained good friends and coworkers, Tony wanted better chances for him and Bucky. So he would... ask about allergies – did supersoldiers even have allergies? – and refrain from buying oversized plushies. Yes. He could do that.

 _Bucky will cook me lunch tomorrow,_ he texted Rhodey on the way back to his suite.

_Bucky? Toney, are you drunk?_

Barnes _, honeybear, and nope. He's making me lunch!_ he couldn't help but add.

There was a long pause, and Tony stared out of a window distractedly. The moonlight was more visible in the compound than it had been at the Tower, and Tony liked this new, quieter place for the Avengers. It suited them better.

 _You mean a date?_ came the reply at long last.

_Yup. He's an amazing cook, or so I've heard._

Cap certainly couldn't keep his mouth shut about Bucky's cooking, at least. Speaking of, what will he think of this new development? Surely he would be okay with Bucky being into men, but Tony, specifically?

He leaned against a wall not two corners from his suite, and again, as if someone was reading his mind, Steve's voice reached him from around the corner.

"I told you you didn't have to come," he sing-sang, laughter in his voice.

"And I told you I would, asshole," Bucky answered, and Tony suppressed a snort. He pushed himself off the wall to greet the men who were no walking on the corridor that ran perpendicular to Tony's, but his phone buzzed in his hand, so he halted.

 _Wow, okay_. _Bon Apétit and pls don't do anything stupid!_

_Me? Stupid? Have we met?_

"Ugh, I need a shower," Steve said, then sniffled loudly. "And so do you."

"You insulting me, or inviting me?" Bucky asked, and Tony froze.

Bucky and Tony’s flirting much slower, much less explicit. But this... _surely_ this was just a joke between old friends. He and Rhodey did the same all the time. It was fine. It was _fine._

"I owe you a blow job for sparring with me in the middle of the night," Steve said lightly.

This was not fine. This was the opposite of fine. Suddenly the air was gone, and Tony’s heart thumped faster to make up for the lack of oxygen around him. He held onto his phone with bruising force to prevent it from slipping through his sweaty fingers.

"Mm, you do," Bucky purred, and Tony plastered himself to the wall, hoping that they wouldn't turn his way, that they wouldn't see him – and they didn't; they walked past the adjacent corridor, oblivious of their surroundings.

The last thing Tony heard was the loud, familiar smacking sound of a kiss before their footsteps faded.

To say that Tony didn't get a good night's sleep would have been an understatement. He gave up around six, and then did pushups in his room – he wanted to avoid the gym as much as possible.

Even after a good workout and a shower he felt no less shitty, and he needed to face the day, and for that, he needed coffee.

How could Bucky do this?

Him and Steve together, that wasn't a surprise. To be honest, Tony should've thought of that possibility sooner. They were always joined at the hip; childhood best friends who saved each other’s lives, and all that. Sure, Steve didn't seem– but then again, Tony didn't appear to be interested in men either and neither did Bucky. Appearances were deceiving.

And if he was just mourning Bucky, a lost love all this time, then of course he didn't show interest in anybody else.

But Bucky. Bucky and Tony had a thing, this small, fragile something between them that Tony thought was special and wanted to cherish and protect so that one day, maybe, in could blossom into something, and he was sure Bucky wanted the same with how carefully he asked Tony out – which, apparently, was all a lie.

Tony would never have imagined Bucky as the cheating type. He was history's most well-known loyal best friend. He was the last person who would come up in a 'most likely to cheat' scenario.

And yet.

Steve needed to know. Best friend back from the dead or not, he needed to know. It was only fair.

But Bucky–

Tony wasn't the type to go behind people's backs. If he had a problem, he ran away from them as much as possible, yes, but once he was up to face them, he wanted to _face_ them.

That meant that, no matter how much he hated the thought, he needed to talk to Bucky first, and ask him what the fuck was going on. 

He brought a bottle of green juice with him, because he was better than going back to alcohol, and settled to wait for Bucky in an armchair of their living room. Steve and Bucky's living room. Because of course they shared a suite, including a kitchen, bathroom and living room, but had two bedrooms. Of which Tony had thought nothing bad until last night.

He jerked when the door opened and held onto the bottle for life.

"Oh," Bucky said when he saw him, and lowered his knife. "You're here early, I haven’t even started dinner yet. Did something happen?"

Tony eyed the knife warily and didn't move. Bucky sheathed and put it away and took a worried step towards Tony.

"Tony?"

"There was something I should've asked yesterday," Tony said. "When you asked me out. What will Steve say?"

He looked up at Bucky, and whatever was on his face told Bucky everything. Bucky's shoulders sagged, and he closed his eyes.

"I saw you at night," Tony went on, and despite his best efforts, his voice wavered. "I saw you kiss. Heard you kiss. Heard you–" he cut himself off. "Why are you cheating on Steve with me?"

He swallowed and took a sip of his juice to avoid looking at Bucky. When he looked back up, Bucky was just putting something away, then he, too, took a deep breath.

"I'm not, I promise, and I can explain."

Tony snorted. Oh, how many times he had heard those words...

"How, exactly, can you explain this? I _trusted_ you," and yeah, he wanted to offer Bucky a chance, wanted to believe him, but the bitter hurt bubbled to the surface and outpowered reason. "And you betrayed Steve!"

The door opened on that exact note and the men in question stepped in.

Steve's disheveled hair was the only implication that he had been running to get there, and he didn't even take his leather jacket off, his gaze just flickered between Tony and Bucky, ready to engage.

"What happened?"

"Tony saw us tonight," Bucky said immediately, which was _not_ what Tony had expected. "Kissing and all."

"Oh," Steve's face reddened, and he rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. Um."

Tony waited, and so did Bucky for Steve to get it together. In other circumstances, it would've been adorable, really: Tony would've even teased Rogers.

"Bucky and I had been together since the beginning," Steve finally said. "Since the thirties. When he came back, we... just continued."

"I get that, and it's a lovely story," Tony said testily. "But Bucky asked me out on a date yesterday, so I'm not sure how this all works."

"I know, he was so excited," Steve said, and Tony's jaw dropped. "He couldn't sleep, that's why we went sparring."

"You... you _knew_?!"

"Of course," Steve said, as if that was the most obvious thing in the whole wide world.

"But," Tony said, then didn't how to continue.

"I, um," Bucky said, and he braced himself before he took a cautious step towards Tony, then knelt to be at eye level with him. "I'm so sorry, Tony. This is all my fault, I should've told you from the start, and I wanted to, I swear, but I... I was afraid you wouldn't give me a chance if you knew I was with Steve."

That was all well and good, and unexpectedly reasonable, apart from one small thing.

"Why even would you want a chance with me when you have Steve?"

Steve let out a choked sound, and Bucky turned a familiar shade of pink.

"You've got a big heart, and are smart, and kind, and not terrible looking," Bucky murmured with a small smile. "Why wouldn't I? Why wouldn't anyone?"

Now, Tony had heard variations of that theme before, many times. But never did anybody start with a good heart – hell, Pepper needed to be convinced he even _had_ a heart.

And all of that was in comparison with _Steve_. _Cap_. The best soldier in history.

"He means that we are, um, polyamorous," Steve offered quietly. "We can fall in love with more than one person at a time, and date, and everything."

Tony leaned back and let out a long sigh. "You. Polyamorous."

"Essentially," Steve even shrugged lightly, in a 'what can you do' way. "We had no labels when we were growing up, and so it's been a journey to find what best fits us, but I think I'm panromantic and demisexual – I had no interest in _anybody_ when I thought that Bucky was dead. But when he's around, I..."

"...get around," Bucky finished for him.

"...yeah," Steve said, and now even his neck was red.

"I'm more of a homoromantic bisexual myself," Bucky admitted. "And I would've told you about this tonight. I had a speech planned, and Steve standing by to help me out, and everything. I know it's not fair to drag you into it all like this."

They both clearly sounded like they’ve done their research on the topic; and to be honest, Tony would’ve too, in their place.

"Why not yesterday?" Tony had to ask.

"Because I'm selfish," Bucky huffed, and Steve made a protesting sound. "I am! I wanted to have just a day when I can... daydream. That you wouldn't run screaming the other direction when I tell you that I'm already also in love with someone else."

"I won't," Tony said, because that was the only sure thing now – what did Bucky mean by 'also'?

"Really?" Bucky asked, voice full of hope, and for the first time today, Tony smiled.

"Now that I know you're not cheating, sure."

Bucky reached out and squeezed Tony's hand. Steve immediately sat down on the floor next to them and grinned like Christmas came early.

"How will this work?" Tony asked them.

"First rule: communication," Steve said. "Which we're still not very good at, but still. If something bothers us, we share. If we want something, we speak up."

"It always works better in practice than in theory," Bucky said. "But that's basically it. I go on dates with both of you and we make sure nobody gets left behind or feels neglected."

"Shouldn't him and me..." Tony faltered, looking between himself and Steve.

"...only if you want," Steve said, now red as a beet.

Oh boy, Tony had only wanted since puberty, no big deal.

"If you both want," Bucky rolled his eyes. "But I know Steve does, so."

"What!" Tony squeaked. "But you never–"

"Yeah, as I said, when Bucky was presumed dead, I was very depressed and had no interest!" Steve said.

"But when I came back, before I even met you, I heard all about your mouth and ass and abs and arms and–"

Steve put his hand over Bucky's mouth, but didn't deny anything.

"What he's saying is that I wouldn't mind trying."

"Steve, I would've climbed you the moment we met if you hadn't been such a jerk at the time," Tony said. "But hey, so was I."

"Now's the chance to do better," Bucky proclaimed. "Second time's the charm."

Tony squinted at him. "You talk like you have experience."

"He does," Steve said smugly. "He and Peggy did the exact same thing."

"What," Tony squeaked again, and then, during what was effectively their impromptu first trio date, learned about just what the sleeping arrangement between one Agent Carter, Steve and Bucky had been during WWII.

And Tony had been called a genius, futurist and philanthropist many a time. He had never in his wildest dreams imagined something like this happening, but now that it had, he could see the possibility of the three of them working out: Bucky calmed Steve down while also breathing fire into him; Steve and Tony challenged each other in the best possible way, and Tony and Bucky worked well together off the field just as well as Bucky and Steve did on the field. Maybe what couldn’t work between Steve and Tony before could work now thanks to Bucky.

Maybe, just maybe, they could do this.

**Author's Note:**

> FYI, I rely on Word to tell me about the nuances of punctuation and grammar bc I'm not a native speaker, and my fave is when it tells me to consider more concise language - like, Word, have you met me? I am many things but concise is not it.
> 
> This was inspired by meeting and almost flirting with a cute girl before realizing that oops, I'm sort of in a relationship - wherein polygamy is okay, but how do you explain that to a new possible party? Certainly not in the way that Bucky does at the beginning, lol. 
> 
> Anyhow, I *might* indulge myself and try writing some extra scenes between Peggy-Bucky-Steve and/or Tony-Bucky-Steve, we'll see.
> 
> Kudos fill my heart and comments give me life!


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